A CAMPAIGN on Facebook which demanded that council chiefs ‘Bring Asda to Inverclyde’ has mysteriously vanished.

The Tele told last Wednesday how nearly a thousand people had responded to the rallying call in just five days since the page first appeared.

It also sparked numerous comments in support of an Asda superstore and petrol station to provide ‘stiff competition’ for Tesco and Morrisons.

But despite the rapidly established groundswell of support for the page, it was taken down sometime between Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning.

Meanwhile, a separate pro-Asda petition which has been started on the change.org website has attracted more than a thousand online ‘signatures’ in just over one week.

The current total stands at 1,091.

SNP councillor Jim MacLeod — who is supporting the petition by local woman Fiona McArthur — told the Tele: “Never mind the fact I am a local councillor, my wife and I are also local shoppers and we would love to see an Asda store in Inverclyde.

“We have in the past shopped at Asda supermarkets in Govan, Linwood and Clydebank.

“If there was an ASDA in Inverclyde it would not only provide further choice for shoppers and jobs opportunities for local people, I am sure it would also mean more people shopping here rather than spending their money at a store outwith Inverclyde.” Council officials — who saw Asda scrap a £20m project for a site in Brougham Street last year amid concerns about commercial viability — don’t believe that there is a pressing need for another superstore in Inverclyde.

They have rejected calls to designate a large site within the area which could be used for a large supermarket.

But council leader Stephen McCabe, left, has told the Tele that he would ‘welcome’ an approach from Asda, or any other supermarket firm, and would be willing to work with them to help identify a potential site.

Asda maintains that it is ‘reviewing options’ regarding a possible move into Greenock.